Girl Colors at Downtown Eatery & Spirits: A Review

Nathan Benham 

Bad Dinner Guests 

8.8/10 

     Here at Bad Dinner Guests, we pride ourselves on being well-versed with various genres of music and up-and-coming bands as well. Recently, I ventured out to Warsaw, IN to experience the superb music of the band Girl Colors.
     Girl Colors is an indie-alternative band consisting of 3 members: Nick Walmer as the guitarist and lead vocalist, Kyle Spears as the bassist and vocals, and Kyle Smith as the drummer of the group. Girl Colors describes itself as “blending 60s psychedelia with punk aggression and funk groove”. Girl Colors provided an entertaining one hour and fifteen minute set of 17 original material.
     Throughout the show, Kyle Smith showed the ability to drive the music and provide a surreal backing experience that allowed for the bass line of Kyle Spears and the vocals/guitar work of Nick Walmer to “run free” without worrying about maintaining a glued experience; this was a major theme throughout the entire show (i.e. in Need to Know, Smith’s Stephen Morris-esque drumming give a solid foundation for the bass and guitar to push the music to various heights). Now, it can’t be left out that the bass playing of Spears and the guitar work of Walmer have an equal share of creative work. For Example, in moving from song to song, Spears and Walmer are able to transcend their musical abilities to various genres such as punk (i.e. Feral Star provides Iggy Pop emotions through the notes of the playing), blues rock (i.e. Spears plays his bass in Caroline as if to imitate Jimi Hendrix’s bluesy rock style), and country twang (i.e. Impossible Days dances with the twang of the music) among others.
     Walmer, Spears, and Smith showed the tenacity of a well-oiled machine; by this, I observed each band member to rely and mesh their music to fit a choregraphed dance; the music provides itself with an experience that the audience feels as if they are involved with the direction the music. Even if 60s psychedelia is not your thing, they provided various genres and Walmer is able to change the style of his voice to fit the music perfectly. Walmer’s lyrics also provide the sense of sadness across the canvas of the music; Walmer may not be suffering in this sadness in everyday life, but he portrays it as such.
     Girl Colors is an up and coming band that spans the spectrum of musical genres while laying down a base sound. Walmer, Smith, and Spears have meshed and show no signs of struggle in taking power of the band. While they may be a small up-and-coming band, they show the tenacity to push the limits of their sound; I recommend seeing them the next time they come to your town.

Setlist (in order): 

Japanese Roses

St. Anthony’s Fire

Colors in Her Head 

Time Travel Blues 

Over Yerself 

Need to Know 

Give Up 

Impossible Days 

Moon’s Blood 

Feral Star

Caroline 

Evelyn 

Heavier than the Sun

Way Out 

No Sleep 

Mr. Mugwort 

Reservoir 

Venue: Downtown Eatery and Spirits in Warsaw,IN 

Event Date: 6/24/17